The present invention relates to shutters for windows or doors, and particularly to the roll-up type shutter.
A typical roll-up type shutter includes a slat assembly of a plurality of slats rollable on a rotary drum or shaft mounted horizontally at the upper end of the shutter. The slat assembly is thus rollable on the drum to a rolled-up non-operative condition above the window, or to a rolled-down operative condition fully or partially covering the window. Such shutters generally do not include a tilting assembly for tilting the slats to control the light as desired when the shutter is in the rolled-down condition.
Roll-up shutters of special construction are know which do permit the slats to be tilted when the slat assembly is in its down, operative position. However, such shutters are extremely expensive, costing many times the cost of the simple roll-up type shutter which does not permit tilting the slats. For example, a typical cost of the non-tilting type roll-up shutter is in the order of $100 per meter; whereas the cost of the tilting-type shutter is in the order of $2000-$4000 per meter. Moreover, the tilting-type shutters now commercially available do not permit the slats to be tilted to a fully-open or partially-open position when the slat assembly is only partially rolled-down such that only the lower part of the slat assembly is in operative position with respect to the window.
An object of the present invention is to provide a roll-up shutter having advantages in the above respects.
According to a broad aspect of the present of the present invention, there is provided a roll-up shutter, comprising: a frame defining a window; a rotary drum mounted horizontally at the upper end of the frame above the window; a slat assembly including a plurality of interconnected pivotal slats; the slat assembly being rollable on the drum from a rolled-up condition above the window to a rolled-down condition covering the window; and a tilting assembly for selectively tilting the slats to an open, partially-closed and fully-closed position when the slat assembly covers at least a part of the window opening.
According to further features in the preferred embodiments of the invention described below, the tilting assembly includes a common actuator extending the length of the window and terminating below the drum, the common actuator being coupled only to the slats aligned with the window in the fully rolled-down condition or partially rolled-down condition of the slat assembly for selectively tilting the coupled slats to an open, partially closed, or filly closed position.
According to one described preferred embodiment, the tilting assembly includes: a channel member extending vertically at one side of the frame, the channel member being open at its upper end and along one side for receiving a pin at the end of each of the slats; and an actuator mechanism for moving the channel member and the slat pins received therein to pivot the slats to their open, partially-closed, and fully-closed positions; the upper end of the channel member being located below the rotatable drum such that when rolling-up the slat assembly onto the drum, the slat end pins leave the channel member thereby permitting the slats to pivot to their fully-closed positions.
According to a second described preferred embodiment, the tilting mechanism further includes a locking mechanism selectively movable to a locking position for locking the tilting mechanism against tilting the slats, or to a releasing position for releasing the tilting mechanism for tilting the slats.
According to further features in the second described embodiment, the common actuator includes a vertical bar extending vertically at one side of the frame and coupled to the slats aligned with the window; and the tilting assembly further includes a coupling mechanism for each slat coupling the slat to the vertical bar, and an actuator mechanism for moving the bar vertically in one direction to pivot the coupled slats towards their open positions, and in the opposite direction to pivot the coupled slats towards their fully-closed positions.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is a provided a roll-up shutter, comprising a frame defining a window; a rotary drum mounted horizontally at the upper end of the frame above said window, and a slat assembly including a plurality of interconnected pivotal slats, said slat assembly being rollable on the drum from a rolled-up condition above said window to a rolled-down condition covering said window; each of said plurality of slats being pivotally mounted eccentrically with respect to the longitudinal axis of the slat
In the described preferred embodiment, the pivotal end of each slat is partially covered by the non-pivotal end of the next adjacent slat in the rolled-up condition of the slat assembly.
As will be described more particularly below, a roll-up shutter constructed in accordance with the foregoing features may not only be rolled-up to its non-operative position and rolled-down to its operative position, but when the shutter is in its rolled-down operative position the slats may be tilted as desired, in order to control the light passing through the shutter. In addition, such a shutter does not require that the slats be in their closed positions if the slat assembly is to be wound on the drum since the slats are automatically moved to their closed positions when the slat assembly is being wound onto the drum. Moreover, such a shutter permits the slat assembly to be partially rolled up and still have the slats aligned with the window to be fully open or partially open to control the light passing through the window. Finally, such a shutter can be constructed with relatively simple parts which can be produced and assembled in volume and at low cost, comparable to the non-tilting type roll-up shutter in present use.
Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description below.